EGYPT REVISITED

15 September –
01 October 2012
Group tour escorted by Keith Grenville

5 star de luxe Nile cruise for 4 nights between Luxor and Aswan.

Cairo, Memphis, Saqqara, Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswan, Dendera, Abydos, Tel el Amarna, Beni Hassan, Tuna el Gabal, el Ashumein, Hermopolis, Alexandria.

TOUR COST:
Per person sharing -includes tips R17 839 excluding air fares – see below
Single room supplement R4 149
Triple share discount R345 per person

AIR FARES:
From Cape Town R7 230 plus tax R2 110
From Johannesburg R5 640 plus tax R1 797
Fares quoted are approximate on Egyptair, economy.
Fares are subject to increase. Tax fluctuates according to rate of exchange. Terms & Conditions apply


TOUR COST INCLUDES:

14 nights accommodation in Egypt as indicated + early check in on arrival


1 Day use of hotel + late check out on departure


3 Transfers in Cairo


1 Transfer in Luxor


1 Transfer in Aswan


2 Transfers in El Minya


1 Transfer Cairo/ El Minya by reserved seated train


1 Transfer El Minya /Luxor by reserved seated train


1 Transfer Cairo/Alexandria


1 Transfer Alexandria/Cairo


1 Half day tour Cairo - Citadel, Mohammed Aly Mosque, Coptic Hanging Church, St. Sergius Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue & Khan El Khalili Bazaars.


1 Full day tour Cairo - Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley Temple, Sun Boat, Memphis, Saqqara & lunch at restaurant


1 Half day tour Cairo - Egyptian Museum & lunch on floating restaurant.


1 Full day tour El Minya - Beni Hassan, Amarna, Tuna El Gabal, El Ashumein & Petosiris Tomb – with box lunch


1 Half day tour Luxor - Medinet Habu, Ramesseum, Seti I Temple & Howard Carter House


1 Full day tour Luxor - Abydos & Dendera – with box lunch


1 Full day tour Alexandria - Catacombs, Roman Theatre, Library, Graeco Roman Museum or Alexandria's Jewellery Museum, Fort Qait Bey & lunch at restaurant


English speaking Egyptologist guide throughout the tour


Entrance fees & sightseeing per itinerary


All transfers & tours by private air-conditioned vehicles


All main tips (drivers, guide, agents, restaurants, Nile cruise, airports in Egypt

TOUR COST EXCLUDES:

Visa (free to SA passports)


Visa handling charge


Drinks or any extras at hotels, restaurants, cruise ship or during tours


Travel insurance **

 IT IS ESSENTIAL TO BOOK AND PAY FOR THE FLIGHTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE FOR BEST FARES AND TO HOLD THE FLIGHTS. THIS IS A BUSY ROUTE AND WILL SELL OUT QUICKLY.

** Travel insurance is always recommended which provides cancellation cover from time of booking.

Please check with Egypt Today for details.

www.lemeridien-pyramids.com
www.horusresortmenia.com
www.sonesta.com/Luxor

Egypt Revisited Itinerary

SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2012
Depart Cape Town or other centres to fly to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport for your overnight flight to Cairo.
Dinner



SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER Cairo
Arrive Cairo International Airport early morning when we will be met by a representative of our excellent agent who will assist us with our luggage and arrange our transfer by coach to 5 star Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel, or similar, situated close to the pyramids, where we are booked on a bed & breakfast basis.

You will have your room on arrival and can take breakfast.

After time to relax and refresh, you will enjoy a half day tour visiting Old Cairo and the Citadel overlooking the city, Mohammed Aly Mosque, Coptic St Sergius Church and the Hanging Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue and the famous medieval Khan el Khalili Bazaar. Overnight Cairo.
Breakfast



MONDAY 17 SEPTEMBER Cairo
Today there is a full day tour to the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, Valley Temple and Boat Museum displaying Khufu’s boat. You will see the Great Pyramid and associated pyramid with the opportunity of entering one or other of the pyramids depending on availability.

Lunch is included at a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will be driven out of Cairo and will enjoy a tour to Memphis where you will see the fallen colossus of Ramesses the Great and other ancient sculptures. You then proceed to the fascinating desert site of Saqqara where you can see the Step Pyramid, the first-ever pyramid and the vast funerary enclosure of pharaoh Djoser (c. 2600 BCE). Overnight Cairo.
Breakfast, Lunch

TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER Cairo – El Minya
After breakfast we check out of the hotel – and visit the world-renowned Egyptian Museum to see the fabulous gold treasures of the boy-king Tutankhamun and an antiquities collection spanning 7,000 years.

Following the visit we will enjoy lunch on a floating restaurant on the Nile after which we will be transferred to the railway station for our reserved seated train travelling southwards to El Minya – 3 hours approximately. On arrival at El Minya we will be transferred to the Horus Resort Hotel situated on the Nile embankment (or similar) where we are booked on a dinner, bed & breakfast basis. Overnight El Minya.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner

WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER El Minya
Today we have a full day tour by coach taking a box lunch from the hotel. Our tour will take us across the Nile by ferry to the East Bank site of Beni Hassan where we visit the elaborately decorated Middle Kingdom tombs cut into the rock of the cliff from c. 21st to 19th centuries BCE. The tour proceeds to the vast site of Tel el Amarna where the controversial and so-called heretic pharaoh Akhenaten established his city of the “Horizon of the Sun” (Akhetaten) and built temples, palaces, a processional road and tombs.

Tuna el Gabal and El Ashumein (ancient Hermopolis) are visited where we see the catacombs containing thousands of mummified baboons dedicated to the deity Thoth and also the remains of the temples. We also see the unique Graeco-Roman temple-shaped tomb of Petosiris. We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight in El Minya.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner



THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER El Minya - Luxor
After breakfast we check out of the hotel and transfer to El Minya railway station to board our reserved seated train to Luxor. The train journey follows the course of the Nile – approximately 6 hours. Refreshments are available on the train. On arrival at Luxor Railway Station we will be met by our local agent and transferred to the 5 star riverside Sonesta St George Hotel, or similar, where we are booked on a bed & breakfast basis.

(Hot air balloon flights on the West Bank are available early morning – booking the night before)
Overnight Luxor.
Breakfast

FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER Luxor
After a leisurely breakfast we will cross the Nile by the road-bridge to the West Bank to visit the huge temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu – this temple is second only to Karnak. Also we visit the memorial or funerary temple of Ramesses II (the Great) called the Ramesseum – it was this temple that inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley to write his famous poem Ozymandias. The rarely visited temple of Seti I is also on our list of visits and, if open, we will visit “Castle Carter” the house used by Howard Carter when he was excavating in the Valley of the Kings and sensationally discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.

The afternoon is at leisure when you could visit the excellent Luxor Museum, have a preliminary visit to the massive Karnak Temple complex or a host of other activities, or just relax and enjoy the facilities of your riverside hotel. Overnight Luxor.
Breakfast.



SATURDAY 22 SEPTEMBER Luxor – Abydos & Dendera
Today there is a full day tour when we take a box lunch from our hotel and drive along the Nile Valley passing through villages and towns along the Nile valley to Abydos to visit the almost complete temple built by Seti I and after his death completed by his son Ramesses II. This temple is magnificent with its seven sanctuaries, and the finest limestone reliefs to be seen anywhere in Egypt – and there is also the mystifying Osireion at the rear of the temple.

The tour continues to another superb temple at Dendera dedicated to the goddess Hathor, one of the most popular deities with her association with love, music and intoxication! This Graeco-Roman temple displays intriguing architectural features including a mysterious crypt. We return to our hotel for a relaxing evening and overnight in Luxor.
Breakfast, lunch

SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER Luxor
Day at leisure in Luxor. Overnight Luxor
Breakfast



MONDAY 24 SEPTEMBER Luxor & Nile Cruise
After breakfast we check out of the hotel and will be transferred to our 5 star de luxe Nile cruiser M/S Tower Prestige, or similar, for a memorable 4 night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan on a full board basis commencing with lunch.

Today there will be a tour of Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex in the world with its forest of pillars, sacred lake, obelisks and massive reliefs and you will also visit the majestic riverside Luxor Temple.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Cruise itinerary may change in sequence due to navigational circumstances but all visits will take place

TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER Nile Cruise
Following breakfast we will travel by road to cross the Nile to the West Bank and visit the tombs of the pharaohs in the famous Valley of the Kings, a World Heritage site. There will be the opportunity to visit 3 tombs and, if open, Tutankhamun’s tomb for which there is a separate charge at the site. You also visit the great terraced temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri and the Colossi of Memnon – giant statues of Amenhotep III.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner



WEDNESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER Nile Cruise
Our Nile cruiser will sail southwards to Esna, where we pass through the lock and continue sailing south to the dusty town of Edfu where you visit the colossal Temple of Horus by horse carriage from the ship - this is the most complete temple of the ancient world.

Your cruise continues sailing to Kom Ombo, where it will moor, enabling you to visit the Ptolemaic temple with its dual dedication to the crocodile god Sobek and a falcon-headed god Re-Haroeris. The cruise continues southwards until you reach the picturesque town of Aswan.

During the cruise there is likely to be a traditional gallabiya party when everyone dresses Egyptian-style.

Items can be obtained inexpensively in the markets or sometimes hired on the boat. Overnight Aswan.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner



THURSDAY 27 SEPTEMBER Nile Cruise
After breakfast, you travel by road for a very short time to visit the famous Aswan High Dam which forms the 500km. long Lake Nasser and visit the ancient granite quarry with its 1,000 ton Unfinished Obelisk. Also, you cross the water by motor-boat to visit the elegant island Temple of Philae, dedicated to the supreme maternal goddess Isis. In the afternoon, sailing on a traditional felucca on the Nile, you will view Elephantine and Kitchener's Islands and the Aga Khan's Mausoleum from the river.
Overnight Aswan.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner

FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER Aswan - Cairo - Alexandria
This morning we say goodbye to our Nile cruiser after breakfast and transfer to Aswan Airport for our short flight to Cairo.

On arrival in Cairo we will be met by our agent and assisted to board our coach which will take us along the Alexandria Desert Road to Alexandria – the pearl of the Mediterranean. We check in at the centrally situated and historical Sofitel Cecil Hotel (or similar), immortalized in The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. We are booked on a dinner, bed & breakfast basis. Overnight Alexandria.
Breakfast, dinner



SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER Alexandria
We have a full day tour in Alexandria, visiting the catacombs at Kom-el-Shoqafa which comprise a multi-level labyrinth, featuring dozens of chambers with sculpted pillars, statues, and other Romano-Egyptian religious symbols, burial niches, and sarcophagi, as well as a Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased.

We also visit the Roman Amphitheatre and see a number of sculptures of Cleopatra’s time salvaged from the Eastern Harbour. Later there is a tour of either the Graeco-Roman Museum (undergoing renovation) OR the recently renovated Jewellery Museum and the medieval Fort Qait Bey built on the site of the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. A highlight of the tour is a visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern equivalent of the Great Library, with its ground-breaking architectural design. Lunch is included at a local restaurant. Dinner at the hotel and overnight Alexandria.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner

SUNDAY 30 SEPTEMBER Alexandria - Cairo
This morning we check out of our hotel and transfer by road (3 hours) to Cairo where we will check in at the Sonesta Cairo Hotel, or similar, on a day booking basis – no meals included.

The remainder of the day is at leisure until the late evening transfer to Cairo International Airport for our flight to Johannesburg. A light supper will be served on the overnight flight.
Breakfast, late dinner on the flight.

MONDAY 01 OCTOBER Johannesburg - Cape Town
Arrive Johannesburg and transfer to flights for Cape Town and other centres.
Breakfast